Hundreds of Palestinian youth set fire with molotov cocktails to parts of the Joseph's Tomb complex in Nablus Friday morning.

Hundreds of young Palestinians gathered and threw Molotov cocktails at the compound. When some of them broke in and began throwing flammables inside the compound, Palestinian security forces took control of the situation. When they arrived, they fired into the air and removed the rioters from the site. A team of local firemen put out the flames.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the attack and established an investigative committee to probe the incident. The attack was an irresponsible act which doesn't reflect Abbas' principles and views, or the principles of Islam, his office said in a statement. Abbas also said that the Palestinian Authority will be responsible for reconstructing the compound and will cover the expenses.

The IDF said that it "considers this event severely, will work to locate and arrest the perpetrators, and strongly condemns any attacks on holy sites."

The military will rebuild the compound, some reports say.

Right wing Israelis are outraged. "The torching of Jewish holy sites is yet another low," said Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel. "This is the result of Palestinian incitement. While the Palestinians are lying through their teeth about the status quo on Temple Mount as a means to change it, they themselves are burning and desecrating the holy places of Israel."

"That is unforgivable," Ariel said.

Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, said "setting fire to the tomb proves that the Palestinian Authority's behavior is no different than ISIS: Young Palestinians took machetes and knives to kill Jews, and now they're burning holy places and historical heritage sites, just as members of ISIS do."

MK Moti Yogev (HaBayit HaYehudi) added "whoever burns Joseph's Tomb proves that the place is not his. People who throw explosives and rocks, and play soccer around Al-Aqsa prove that the place isn't sacred to them. All these places will return to our hands [because they are sacred to us]."

The tomb, identified as the resting place of the Biblical Joseph, sits on the slope of Mount Gerizim in Nablus and near the Balata refugee camp.

Joseph's Tomb was not included in the grave list of holy sites which was transferred to the Palestinians as a result of the second Oslo agreement signed in 1995. When the IDF pulled out of Nablus that same year as a result of the agreement, Od Yosef Hai, a yeshiva founded in the 1980s, it's name a Biblical reference, became a Jewish and Israeli enclave in the area. But in 2000, because of the outbreak of the second intifada, Israel completely withdrew from the grave, as it was too difficult to defend.

In recent years, every month at night, worshippers would gather at Joseph's Tomb to pray. The visits were coordinated with the military forces and Palestinian security.

There were many conflicts around the grave in recent months due to uncoordinated visits. In 2011, Ben-Yosef Livnat was killed and three of his friends were wounded by a Palestinian policeman after visiting the area without clearing it with the IDF.

**

The situation at Joseph's Tomb comes on the heels of Abbas' phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday, in which Abbas promised to calm the situation in the West Bank.

And this promise has already been put to the test. In addition to youth burning Joseph's Tomb early Friday morning, Hamas called for rallies across the West Bank to express outrage after Juma'a, Friday prayers. Officials also expect demonstrations in Gaza along the border with Israel to take place around the same time.

Hamas has refrained from direct involvement in terms of organization demonstrations in the West Bank. It is yet unknown how the Palestinian security forces plan to deal with the Hamas protests.

Sources close to the Palestinian president told Haaretz that his conversation with Kerry also dealt with Abbas' claims that Israel executed the 13-year-old responsible for a terrorist attack in the East Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze'ev, Ahmed Mansara. After Israel released photos of Mansara eating hospital food at Hadassah Ein Karem in West Jerusalem, Abbas argued that the fact that Mansara didn't die doesn't absolve Israel of its action. Abbas explained that the purpose of his speech was to criticize the brutality of Israeli police who will shoot and kill and Palestinian subject, even if he was already been disabled and the threat removed.

Also during the conversation with Kerry, Abbas asked that actions be taken against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, to stop the provocation and aggression that settlers pose to Palestinians, especially visits to Al-Aqsa mosque, he explained.

Despite the relative calm over the past 24 hours, police forces decided to limit Al-Aqsa mosque parishioners on Friday to men over the age of 40 and women.

A Palestinian posing as a journalist stabs an Israeli soldier with a knife before being shot dead near the West Bank city of Hebron October 16, 2015.

An Israeli soldier was stabbed and moderately wounded early afternoon on Friday in a suspected terror attack during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians just outside of Hebron. The terrorist was shot and killed on the scene.

The attacker was dressed up as a photographer with a press camera and was wearing a clearly marked 'PRESS' vest.

The assailant arrived at the intersection between the Palestinian village Tarqumiyah and the Israeli settlement Adora, which leads to Hebron from Guvrin, and stabbed the soldier. He was shot dead by other IDF soldiers on scene.

Magen David Adom paramedics brought the victim, who was stabbed in his upper body, to Sha'are Tzedek Medical Center in Jerusalem for treatment.

The IDF is preparing for protests and clashes after Friday prayers in the West Bank and Gaza border. Forces are on high alert near the Gaza border, as there are concerns Palestinians might try to breach the fence. Earlier, shots were fired from Gaza at IDF soldiers. No injuries were reported, but an army vehicle was slightly damaged.

On Thursday, Hamas called for protests to be held around the West Bank and Gaza in a "day of rage" following Friday prayers. Hamas has refrained from direct involvement in terms of organization demonstrations in the West Bank. It is yet unknown how the Palestinian security forces plan to deal with the Hamas protests.

Gaza Palestinians broke through the security fence several times this week, and Israeli soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas to push them back. On Friday morning, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported that a 37-year-old man who was wounded by a live bullet in such a clash with Israeli troops this week near Beit Hanoun has succumbed to his wounds.

Riots are also expected Friday in Jenin, surrounding the funeral of Fadi Adrabi, a Palestinian imprisoned in Israel who died this week at Soroka Hospital. Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe said Adrabi suffered from medical problems, and accused Israel of neglecting his condition.

Jerusalem Police decided Thursday that only Muslim men over 40 will be allowed into the Temple Mount for Friday prayers, though women's entry wasn't limited. On Friday morning, a Border Police unit found a pipe bomb near a roadblock between the neighborhood of Issawiya in East Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. The bomb was found by a sniffer dog, and was then destroyed by a police sapper.

In Nablus, Palestinian youth torched Joseph's Tomb with Molotov cocktails and other flammable materials. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced their actions as "irresponsible," and members of the Israeli Knesset cried out against the attacks as well.

Since the beginning of this week three Israeli were killed and 39 were wounded in 16 terror attacks. Ten of this week's attacks were in Jerusalem – in the most serious attack, two Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukkaber stormed a bus in Armon Hanatziv neighborhood armed with a gun and a knife, killing one and wounding 20 others. Shortly after, a Palestinian slammed his car into a bus station in Malkhei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem, killing one Israeli and wounding three others.

The terror wave started about two weeks ago, when Palestinians shot dead Naama and Eitam Henkin who were driving with their four children near the settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank. So far, seven Israelis were killed in terror attacks, and 13 terrorists were shot dead. Seven Palestinians, including five teens, were killed by Israeli troops' fire in clashes in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Twelve more were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli troops' fire and air force strikes.

Israeli police stand around a Palestinian shot after he tried to stab a person at Damascus Gate

A Palestinian terrorist was shot dead Wednesday afternoon outside of the Old City's Damascus Gate in a failed stabbing attack, police said.

According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, at approximately 4:30 p.m. Border Police in the area identified a suspicious looking Arab man, 19-year-old Hebron resident Bassel Sidar, wearing camouflaged clothing, sitting by the east Jerusalem gate's entrance.

When police asked to search Sidar, for a weapon, he withdrew a knife from his pocket and charged the officers, Rosenfeld said.

"Police reacted immediately and fired at him," Rosenfeld said, adding that the unidentified man died minutes later. Sidar did not have a criminal past before this incident.

The area of the attack has since been cordoned off. None of the officers were wounded, he said.

"Police continue to maintain heightened security in the area and throughout the city," Rosenfeld said.

Wednesday's attempted attack follows a relative lull in terrorist activity in the capital following multiple attacks on Tuesday morning.

Several metal detectors have been added throughout the Old City, including at the entrance to the Temple Mount, to prevent further attacks in the Arab Quarter, where several Jews have been stabbed since the beginning of the month.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the Russian government used advanced cluster munition in an airstrike near Aleppo, Syria.

These bombs contain "multiple explosive submunitions." Aircrafts, sea vessels, and ground transportation can fire off these bombs. They then open "mid-air to release tens or hundreds of submunitions, which can saturate an area up to the size of several football fields." HRW received photographs and videos that show Russian troops using the bombs from their aircrafts and the ground.

"It's disturbing that yet another type of cluster munition is being used in Syria given the harm they cause to civilians for years to come," declared Nadim Houry, the deputy Middle East director at HRW. "Neither Russia nor Syria should use cluster munitions, and both should join the international ban without delay."

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banned the use of cluster bombs:

Cluster munitions are unacceptable for two reasons. Firstly, they have wide area effects and are unable to distinguish between civilians and combatants. Secondly, the use of cluster munitions leave behind large numbers of dangerous unexploded ordnance. Such remnants kill and injure civilians, obstruct economic and social development, and have other severe consequences that persist for years and decades after use.
HRW could not determine if "Russian or Syrian forces were responsible for the attack" on October 4.

Local media posted pictures of the cluster bombs near Kafr Halab that allegedly "show the remnants of SPBE sensor fuzed submunitions." Activists posted videos that "show explosions in mid-air consistent with attacks with SBE submunitions." However, HRW could not confirm details since no one could conduct an investigation.

HRW claims the Syrian government used cluster bombs since 2012 in their civil war. They also believe the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) used "cluster munition rockets in the second half of 2014."

No sources have reported casualties in Kafr Halab.

Russian media reported that the country is using "time-proven bombs and missiles equipped with state-of-the-art system guidance. Precision weapons are used from high altitudes to exclude encounters with portable air-defence systems." Their first round of attacks killed at least 17 civilians in northern Homs.

"Reports of civilian casualties in its first strikes raise concerns that Russia is not taking sufficient precautions to avoid civilian casualties in Syria," continued Houry. "After enduring so much, the last thing Syrians need would be more indiscriminate attacks from the air."

Russia began more airstrikes in Syria on Monday. The Russian Defense Ministry announced they "flew 64 sorties over Syria in the last 24 hours, destroying ISIS positions, training camps and ammunition dumps."

An international panel said it is prepared to launch an investigation into the botched American airstrike that hit a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Afghanistan this month, but the probe can't begin unless both Washington and Kabul sign off - a step the two governments may hesitate to take because of the potential political and legal fallout.

U.S. President Barack Obama has personally apologized for the devastating strike in Kunduz, which killed 22 people, and the Pentagon has acknowledged that it was a mistake. Washington has promised a full probe into who asked for the strike, who approved it, and why the many safeguards designed to prevent such a tragedy all failed to do so.

So far, however, the White House has refused to allow the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), a Swiss-based body designed to investigate breaches of humanitarian law, to begin its work. In an email, National Security Council spokesperson Mark Stroh said the White House's position has not changed since last week, when White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the president had confidence that investigations by the United States, Afghanistan, and NATO would be transparent and truthful. The IHFFC, which was constituted in 1991 and is recognized by 76 states, has never been used in such an investigation and does not have the powers of the National Security Council or the International Criminal Court.

Neither the United States nor Afghanistan has joined the body, but MSF's international president, Joanne Liu, has said in a statement that the IHFFC's investigation will be instrumental in determining why humanitarians were not protected under existing rules of war. "We need to know if the rules of war have changed, not just for Kunduz, but for the safety of our teams working in front-line hospitals all over the world," she said.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, has made clear that it will not trust any report that is not entirely independent from the Afghan and American governments. The group has claimed that it provided the coordinates of the hospital's location to Washington as U.S. forces began to up their participation in the Afghan-led effort to reclaim the city from the Taliban, which took over the city of Kunduz at the end of September.

On Wednesday, Liu said that "apologies and condolences [are] not enough."

"We are still in the dark about why a well-known hospital full of patients and medical staff was repeatedly bombarded for more than an hour," she said. "We need to understand what happened and why."

The IHFFC sent a letter on Oct. 7 to both the Afghan and American governments to offer to conduct a probe into the bombing, which went on for more than an hour. MSF has called the attack a war crime.

If Washington turns down the offer from the IHFFC, the Obama administration could signal an unwillingness to offer a full and transparent investigation into what went wrong. But to accept the offer would likely rouse political tensions back home and be seen as Obama caving to pressure from an outside group.

And despite Obama's apology, the White House has remained firm on its stance that the strike was unintentional and should not be considered a war crime.

"There is no evidence that ... I've seen or that anybody else has presented that indicate that this was anything other than a terrible, tragic accident," Earnest said last week.

President Barack Obama personally apologized for the deadly U.S. airstrike on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in northern Afghanistan, even though investigations into the incident are incomplete and U.S. officials have said Afghan forces played a key role in calling for the strike.

Mr. Obama on Wednesday placed a phone call to the group's international president, Joanne Liu, "to apologize and express his condolences" for the 12 staff members and 10 patients who were killed after U.S. forces "mistakenly struck" the organization's Kunduz hospital, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

The move marked a reversal from the White House position a day earlier, when Mr. Earnest indicated the U.S. wouldn't formally apologize for the airstrike until several investigations into the incident had made more progress.

Mr. Obama since learned new information about the airstrike and decided to apologize, Mr. Earnest said, declining to offer details.

"Based on what the president has learned, he believed that it was appropriate for the United States to do what we've done before, which is to acknowledge that a mistake had been made, to offer an apology," Mr. Earnest said.

A day earlier, Army Gen. John Campbell, the commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, said he had directed U.S. forces to undergo training on military rules of engagement, to prevent a similar mistake in the future. Gen. Campbell said the decision to strike was made within the U.S. chain of command, adding that the U.S. would never intentionally strike a hospital.

Doctors Without Borders, also known by the acronym for its French name, MSF, has sharply criticized the U.S. for the airstrike, calling it a war crime and demanding an independent investigation. The organization acknowledged Mr. Obama's apology, but reiterated its demand for a neutral investigation.

"We received President Obama's apology today for the attack against our trauma hospital in Afghanistan," Dr. Liu said. "However, we reiterate our [request] that the U.S. government consent to an independent investigation led by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened and why it happened."

The Switzerland-based commission was set up in 1991 under the Geneva Conventions.

Mr. Obama also spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday about the incident. During the call, Mr. Obama "expressed regret" about the airstrike and offered his condolences to the victims and their families on behalf of Americans, the White House said.

The U.S. strike, on Oct. 3, came in the midst of a U.S. military intervention in support of Afghan troops after the Taliban stormed Kunduz city more than a week ago, effectively controlling it for three days. Since then, pro-government forces have struggled to completely clear the city from the insurgency.

Afghan troops controlled most of Kunduz city on Wednesday, including its center, even as sporadic fighting continued in parts of the city and its outskirts.
As Afghan troops battled insurgents Oct. 3, they asked U.S. Special Forces personnel assisting nearby to request air support, U.S. military officials have said. A U.S. AC-130 gunship arrived shortly afterward, and the strike on the hospital compound followed.
American officials initially said U.S. forces requested the airstrikes, but changed that account on Monday, saying Afghan units sought the support.
Zafar Hashemi, a spokesman for Mr. Ghani, confirmed on Wednesday that Afghan forces had requested the airstrike.
"On the specifics of the hospital incident, we are working with our international partners to fully and transparently investigate it," he said. "We cannot make further comments while the investigation is going on."
The Obama administration has resisted an independent investigation, saying Mr. Obama is confident that three probes, including one by the Defense Department, would provide a thorough accounting of what happened.
But Mr. Obama's decision to apologize could have an impact on future military operations and the American service members who conducted the strike.
"If it is necessary to hold individuals accountable, that will be done," Mr. Earnest said. "And certainly, we're going to be looking for reforms that we can put in place that make it less likely that these kinds of things happen in the future."
Mr. Obama has apologized for U.S. military operations before, most recently in April after a U.S. drone strike killed an American and an Italian held hostage during a January attack on an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan.
At the time, he spoke publicly from the White House to "offer our deepest apologies" on behalf of the U.S. government. His apology to Doctors Without Borders was more private, underscoring the sensitivities of the investigations into the incident.
The Afghan government is investigating the incident as part of a joint probe with U.S. officials. Afghan security officials previously have alleged that Taliban fighters were using the Doctors Without Borders compound as a firing position.
The U.S. military is conducting its own probe and an investigations by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also is under way.
The Pentagon's shifting accounts of the events represent one question in the investigations. Among other unanswered questions are whether the U.S. gunship crew knew it was firing on a hospital; whether the Taliban had ever used the compound as a base to stage attacks; and what the Afghan forces told the U.S. forces before those American forces called in the strike.
Doctors Without Borders said its main hospital building was bombed for more than an hour, although it had shared details of its exact location with the Afghan and U.S. militaries.

On the same day the U.S. struck a hospital in Afghanistan, Putin's pilots struck medical facilities and vehicles nowhere near ISIS.

Dr. Ammar Martini has a simple question he would like answered: "Why are the Russians bombing my hospitals and ambulances?"

One of the cofounders of Orient Humanitarian Relief, a nonprofit that provides medical treatment and educational services in northern and central Syria, Martini was recounting to The Daily Beast how Russian airstrikes in the Idlib countryside Saturday destroyed a part of his emergency ambulance center. "They destroyed four or five of our vehicles," he said. "These attacks were specifically targeting Orient."

Below is a video Oubai Shahbandar, a former Pentagon officials turned Orient employee, shared with The Daily Beast, showing the charred vehicles. "If the Russians think ambulances are legitimate terrorist targets," Shahbandar emailed, "imagine what they're going to do to the rest of Syria."

On the same day the U.S. struck a hospital in Afghanistan, Putin's pilots struck medical facilities and vehicles nowhere near ISIS.

Dr. Ammar Martini has a simple question he would like answered: "Why are the Russians bombing my hospitals and ambulances?"

One of the cofounders of Orient Humanitarian Relief, a nonprofit that provides medical treatment and educational services in northern and central Syria, Martini was recounting to The Daily Beast how Russian airstrikes in the Idlib countryside Saturday destroyed a part of his emergency ambulance center. "They destroyed four or five of our vehicles," he said. "These attacks were specifically targeting Orient."

Below is a video Oubai Shahbandar, a former Pentagon officials turned Orient employee, shared with The Daily Beast, showing the charred vehicles. "If the Russians think ambulances are legitimate terrorist targets," Shahbandar emailed, "imagine what they're going to do to the rest of Syria."

Russia, too, nearly hit a separate Doctors Without Borders hospital in a refugee camp in Al Yamdiyyah, Latakia. According to McClatchy, "The bomb struck in the village just a few hundred yards from the actual border, wounding several townspeople, local residents said. The Doctors Without Borders hospital apparently was not damaged." However, Dr. Jawad Abu Hatab, a heart surgeon at the hospital, told the news agency that he believed Russia had been targeting the site and missed.

So far, 80 percent of Russia's air sorties in Syria have hit decidedly non-ISIS targets, mainly in the center, north, and west of the country. That's where, in addition to civilians, a grab bag of fighters opposed to President Bashar al-Assad ranging from hardline Islamists to al Qaeda to U.S.-backed Free Syrian Armyunits have all had bull's-eyes painted on their backs.

"They attacked Jisr al-Shughour and Latakia," Martini said, "but also Yamadea, where there is a big hospital that's been in operation for about 40 years. Thank God they didn't hit it! The missile went elsewhere. They also struck on the outskirts of Hama, attacking a the field hospital and killing a lot of people."

One recent sortie struck another Orient ambulance, this one transporting casualties from Ihsem, a village in the Jabal al-Zawiyah area, which lies about 30 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital of Idlib City. A medical facility there maintained by the White Helmets, a civil volunteer corps opposed to the regime and ISIS, was bombed on October 3. Two Orient paramedics were wounded while ferrying the injured out of the village. Luckily, they survived. But after the Russians bombed Jabal al-Zawiyah, regime helicopters swooped in and dropped one of their nastier munitions-barrel bombs, according to Martini. These are large metal drums packed with shrapnel and explosives, which Assad's air force has relied on increasingly as a means to unleash the highest degree of devastation on the least discriminate target zone.

The one-two punch on Jabal al-Zawiyah only underscored for Martini the operational coordination between Damascus and Moscow, and the true nature of Vladimir Putin's Syria adventure: "Russian forces came to continue what the regime began. I think the regime is giving the targets and locations. There is no ISIS here, absolutely."

Martini had been a successful surgeon in Idlib, Syria's northwest province, before the 2011 uprising against Assad. That's when he was instructed by Assad's military police to ignore his Hippocratic oath altogether, and let any opposition-affiliated patients die on the slab at the Red Crescent hospital he then worked in. Martini refused. So he, too, was arrested and tortured, an experience he declined to relay in detail to The Washington Post 18 months ago. His hospital's general manager was murdered by the regime.

Orient was established in 2012 by Martini and a wealthy Syrian, the Dubai-based entrepreneur Ghassan Aboud, who financed the project. It aimed to inject a bit of humanity into a ghoulish conflict that has since become not one civil war but several.

Although Orient runs an anti-Assad television station out of the Gulf, its charitable activities inside Syria are strictly non-aligned, Martini insists: "Our ambulance system works for all people, from the regime to the rebels to innocent civilians who are on neither side. We treat anyone who is wounded."

Orient's only no-go zone, Martini told The Daily Beast, is territory controlled by ISIS. "We don't work inside ISIS areas because they are criminals who attacked Orient already," he said. "In March 2014, they sent a car bomb to Atmeh [a border town in Aleppo] and killed 17 people, five of them children. In Marea, ISIS attacked people with chemical weapons. We treated people with very strange symptoms."

Martini is based in Turkey, about a kilometer from the Syrian border. But he darts in and out of his homeland, at great personal risk, to oversee Orient's extensive network. Today, the charity maintains 10 surgical hospitals in Syria, from the north to the Aleppo borderline. "These are all free. We perform more than 500 operations each day. Every hospital has outpatient clinics. It is very dangerous to shoot these hospitals because we have oxygen pumps and highly flammable equipment. One explosion can cause a lot of damage."

One Orient hospital in Kafranbel city, Idlib, contains 70 beds. It routinely provides kidney dialysis to 15 patients with renal failure. But all that is now under threat, thanks to Putin. "We cannot open the hospital or accept any patients because we were very afraid the Russians will attack us again. All hospitals are afraid. They're working in the basement, closing outpatient clinics. We run outpatient clinics at night. We can work only then and treat people to avoid the warplanes."

As The Daily Beast earlier reported, Russian jets have mainly been using "dumb bombs" rather than guided munitions, making it difficult to discern intended targets and guaranteeing higher body counts. There's already evidence that Russia's Su-24 bombers have been firing cluster munitions in southwest Aleppo. These bombs have been proscibed by U.N. convention, to which Russia is not a signatory.

Fatemeh was convicted of murdering her husband in 1988, when she was 17 years old. She was 23 year old when she was hanged in the Adelabad prison of Shiraz (Southern Ian) early this morning.

Fatemeh Salbehi married Hamed Sadeghi (30) at the age of 16. One year later the body of Hamed was found in their home and Fatemeh who was a school girl at that time was charged with his murder. She didn't have access to lawyer at the time of interrogations.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) strongly condemns the execution of Fatemeh Salbehi. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, said: "Execution of Fatemeh Salbehi is a clear violation of Iran's internationa obligations, and the leaders of the Iranian authorities, in particulr the Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, must be held accountable for this crime"- "We also call for the internatioal community to condemn Fatemeh Salbehi's execution".

Despite ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Iranian authorities have executed at least 16 juvenile offenders since 2014.

A recent report from IHR shows that the number of the executions in 2015 are the highest in more than 25 years.

Karl Andree is a 74-year-old British grandfather. For the past 25 years, he has lived in Saudi Arabia, working with local oil companies. According to his children, he was quite happy there, even when his wife, Verity, was forced to return to Britain to help cope with her worsening Alzheimer's.

However, Andree has suffered serious problems in Saudi Arabia over the past year – and his problems may well spell trouble for relations between Britain and Saudi Arabia.

On Aug. 25, 2014, he was arrested by religious police in Jiddah after they allegedly found bottles of homemade wine in his car. He has served a one-year prison sentence for possessing alcohol, which is illegal in the conservative Islamic country. However, he has not been released - and his family said he now faces 350 lashes in a public flogging.

"My dad broke the rules in a country that does not allow alcohol but he's served his time," his daughter, Kirsten, told the Sun tabloid this week. "Dad is 74 and not a well man. I worry he won't survive this ordeal."

In an emotional appeal published Monday, Andree's family called on British Prime Minister David Cameron to step in to help their father. The family said it had worked with the British Embassy in Riyadh - to no avail. "The Saudi government will only listen to him," Andree's son Simon told the Sun, referring to Cameron.

On Tuesday, Cameron's office indicated that the British leader will write to Saudi authorities to protest Andree's "extremely concerning" case. "Our embassy staff are continuing to assist Mr. Andree, including regular visits to check on his welfare, and frequent contact with his lawyer and family," a Foreign Office spokesperson told WorldViews.

Andree's case comes after a groundswell of international criticism over Saudi Arabia's human rights records, sparked by the flogging of blogger Raif Badawi and reports of the planned execution of activist Ali Mohammed Baqir al-Nimr, who was arrested at 17 for allegedly taking part in anti-government protests. Saudi Arabia has responded to these criticisms forcefully over the past year, arguing that its legal system is based on sharia, or Islamic law.

The flood of criticism has brought heightened scrutiny of Britain's ties with Saudi Arabia, a major financial and political partner in the Middle East. On Tuesday, the prime minister's office announced that Britain had pulled out of a proposed $9 million deal under which it would sell prison expertise to Saudi Arabia.

The proposed deal had proven exceptionally controversial in Britain, withopposition leader Jeremy Corbyn last month calling for the government to cancel it. The Times of London reported that the Conservative government had been split over it, with Justice Secretary Michael Gove reported as saying that he opposed supporting a regime that carries out beheadings and stonings, while Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was worried that canceling the deal would make Britain look like an untrustworthy ally.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Simon Andree had suggested that Britain's business links to Saudi Arabia were to blame for the British government's slow reaction to his father's case. "He's at the bottom of a pecking order and all the business dealings with Saudi Arabia and the UK are probably taking priority over it," Andree said.

While the prime minister's office has stressed that the two issues are separate, the contract was canceled shortly after Andree's family made their appeal to Cameron. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Gove said that security cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Britain had "saved British lives in the past" and should continue, but that there needed to be a balancewith "standing up to the values that our citizens believe in and would like to see us promote."

After the prime minister's announcement, Simon Andree told the Guardian newspaper that he was pleased that Cameron would step in, but he expressed reservations about the canceled prison deal. "I just hope that the breakdown of this deal won't affect" his father, he said. "It was never my intention. I hope it won't impact upon him. This case was always about my father's health."

Rescue personnel stand near a victim who was killed in a terror attack in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem. October 13, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

"Two separate attacks hit Jerusalem in a matter of minutes Tuesday morning, when two men attempted to stab passengers on a bus before being shot and a car rammed into a group of people in the center of the capital.

One person was killed and another wounded as a driver rammed into a crowd on Malchei Israel Street in the Makor Baruch neighborhood in the center of the city. The attacker reportedly stepped out of the crashed vehicle and attempted to stab the wounded. He was subdued by police, but was not killed.

In a separate incident minutes earlier, two male passengers were killed - a 60-year-old who died at the scene, and a 45-year-old who died in the hospital - and three others suffered gunshot wounds in a combined shooting and stabbing attack on Egged bus 78 in the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in southern Jerusalem.

Two assailants were involved in the Armon Hanatziv attack, and were shot and subdued by police. One terrorist was said to have been killed, and the other was caught by police.

Some 15 people were said to have been injured in the attack.

In Ra'anana, a man stabbed four people with a knife on Jerusalem Boulevard. One was in serious condition with stab wounds to the upper body. The three other victims were lightly injured.

The attacker was arrested.

The attacks follows just hours after another stabbing attack in Raanana, in which a man was lightly injured when stabbed while standing at a bus stop on the central Ahuza thoroughfare in the city..."

Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, imprisoned in Tehran for more than 14 months, has been convicted in an espionage trial that ended in August, Iranian state television reported.

News of a verdict in Tehran's Revolutionary Court initially came early Sunday, but court spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei did not specify the judgment. In a state TV report late Sunday, Mohseni-Ejei said definitively that Rezaian, The Post's correspondent in Tehran since 2012, was found guilty.

But many details remained unknown. Rezaian faced four charges - the most serious of which was espionage - and it was not immediately clear whether he was convicted of all charges. Rezaian and The Post have strongly denied the accusations, and his case has drawn wide-ranging denunciations including statements from the White House and media freedom groups.

It also was not known what sentence has been imposed. The judge who heard the case is known for handing down harsh sentences, and Rezaian potentially faces a sentence of 10 to 20 years. It was not even known whether Rezaian himself has been informed of the conviction.

Reflecting the murky nature of the trial that was held behind closed doors, Iranian TV quoted Mohseni-Ejei saying: "He has been convicted, but I don't have the verdict's details."

Martin Baron, executive editor of The Post, called the guilty verdict "an outrageous injustice" and "contemptible."

"Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing," he said in a statement.

Top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, have repeatedly floated the idea of a prisoner exchange in recent weeks. Rouhani has suggested that Iran might push to expedite the release of Rezaian and two other Iranian Americans if the United States freed Iranian citizens convicted of violating economic sanctions against Tehran. Saeed Abedini of Boise, Idaho, is a pastor imprisoned for organizing home churches. Amir Hekmati of Flint, Mich., is a former Marine who has spent four years in prison since his arrest during a visit to see his grandmother.

In an unconfirmed account of the verdict, the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran News Network reported Monday that Rezaian was accused of "spying on Iran's nuclear programs" and giving the U.S. government information on people and companies skirting the sanctions. Oddly, it called Rezaian, a dual U.S.-Iranian national, an American citizen. The Iranian government does not recognize dual citizenship and has treated Rezaian in court solely as an Iranian.

"Jason Rezaian is an American citizen who was arrested in July 2014 for the crimes of spying on Iran's nuclear programs and compiling information on circumventing the sanctions," the network said on its web site. "Having entered Iran . . . under the guise of journalism, he began to identify individuals and companies who were evading sanctions and cooperating with Iran. The information that Rezaian provided to the Americans resulted in many Iranian and international businessmen and companies being placed on America's sanctions list."

The network offered no attribution for its account, which appeared to echo a thinly sourced report by the semiofficial Fars News Agency in April. That report alleged that Rezaian had provided information on the impact of sanctions on Iran and that the information had been used by government agencies such as the CIA. It compared the alleged activity to "selling food to the enemy in wartime."

Rezaian's brother, Ali Rezaian, said his family has been unable to get information on the verdict. Their mother, Mary Rezaian, along with Jason Rezaian's wife and his defense lawyer, went to the courthouse Monday seeking clarification, he said. But they were turned away without being given any additional information.

"As a consequence, at this point we still have no clarity regarding Jason's fate," Ali Rezaian said in a statement. "Should the verdict be anything other than a full exoneration, we will appeal and seek the justice that Jason deserves."

Ali Rezaian maintained his brother's innocence and condemned his continued incarceration. Monday marks Rezaian's 447th day in custody.

"Today's events are just the latest in what has long been a travesty of justice and an ongoing nightmare for Jason and our family," he added. "This follows an unconscionable pattern by Iranian authorities of silence, obfuscation, delay and a total lack of adherence to international and Iranian law. To this day, the Iranian government has provided no proof of the trumped-up charges against Jason."

The Associated Press reported that Leila Ahsan, Rezaian's lawyer, said on Sunday that "there are no new developments" and that she had not received the verdict yet. She could not be reached immediately for comment on Monday.

Baron also said there would be an appeal, and Ahsan is expected to ask the court to release Rezaian on bail until a final resolution is reached. Under Iranian law, Rezaian has 20 days to appeal.

"The contemptible end to this 'judicial process' leaves Iran's senior leaders with an obligation to right this grievous wrong," Baron said. "Jason is a victim - arrested without cause, held for months in isolation, without access to a lawyer, subjected to physical mistreatment and psychological abuse, and now convicted without basis. He has spent nearly 15 months locked up in Iran's notorious Evin Prison, more than three times as long than any other Western journalists.

"The only thing that has ever been clear about this case is Jason's innocence," Baron continued. "Any fair and just review would quickly overturn this unfounded verdict. Jason should be exonerated and released; he and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who has been out on bail, should both be granted, without delay, the full freedom that is their right."

The State Department said there still has been no official confirmation of a verdict despite the news reports by Iran's state-run television.

"Unfortunately, this is not surprising given that this process has been opaque and incomprehensible from the start," said State Department spokesman John Kirby. "Regardless of whether there has been a conviction or not, we continue to call for the government of Iran to drop all charges against Jason and release him immediately."

Rezaian, 39, was arrested on July 22, 2014. He has been held since then in Evin Prison, where many political prisoners are detained and interrogated. His trial was cloaked in secrecy, with even his wife and mother denied permission to attend.

Rezaian's case attracted international attention as an example of Iranian government repression, despite President Rouhani's desire to expand personal freedoms in Iran and improve relations with the West.

Human rights activists said Rezaian's treatment by the Iranian judicial system highlights abuses that are common in Iran.

Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, called Rezaian's prosecution and trial "a travesty of justice."

"In Jason's conviction, the judge delivered the will and demand of the intelligence services," he said. "This is politicized justice at its worst."

When the trial began May 26, the judge read the indictment against Rezaian, and the session was adjourned after about two hours. No family members or independent observers were allowed to attend.

Three subsequent sessions were held, one of them a day before the conclusion of a July 14 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, including the United States. The court held its final hearing in the case on Aug. 10, Rezaian's attorney said. She did not provide details.

On the first anniversary of his detention, The Post formally petitioned the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention for help in securing Rezaian's release. The Post accused the Iranian government of flagrant human rights violations during the "arbitrary and unlawful" detention of the journalist.

The petition noted that the judge in the case, Abolghassem Salavati, is a hard-liner known for imposing draconian sentences - including long prison terms, lashings and execution - on political prisoners. Salavati has been under European Union sanctions since 2011 for human rights violations.

During the trial, the petition said, Rezaian was allowed only limited contact with his attorney and had no opportunity to present witnesses or evidence in his defense or challenge any evidence against him. It described Salavati as clearly biased in favor of the prosecution, which "presented no live witnesses, no real evidence, and nothing else to justify the charges, much less anything to prove that Rezaian is guilty of any crime."

The Post's petition also noted strains between hard-liners championed by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and more moderate members of the Rouhani government - strains exacerbated by the nuclear deal. "There are reasons to believe that Rezaian's arrest, detention, and trial are linked not only to the nuclear negotiations and recent deal, but also to the internal tensions among the political factions within Iran," the petition said.

The head of the U.N. Working Group and two other U.N. human rights experts expressed grave concern on Aug. 14 about Rezaian's continued incarceration, saying that his legal rights and due process had been ignored and calling for his immediate release.

Top Iranian officials in September floated the idea of a prisoner exchangeinvolving Rezaian and at least two other Americans held in Iran, but the Post reporter remained incarcerated while passing a grim milestone. By Oct. 10, he had been detained longer than the 52 Americans held during the Iranian hostage crisis three decades ago.

Rezaian was arrested along with his wife, Salehi, an Iranian journalist. She was released on bail in October 2014, but Rezaian languished in Tehran's Evin Prison for months without trial or even specific charges.

In a previous case that drew international attention, three American hikers who were charged with espionage after straying into Iran from the Iraqi region of Kurdistan in 2009 were eventually released after the payment of $465,000 "bail" for each of them.

Sarah Shourd was freed after 14 months on "humanitarian grounds" because of her declining health, while Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer were held for two years before they were each sentenced to eight years in prison in August 2011 by the same judge who presided over Rezaian's trial. Fattal and Bauer were nevertheless released and flown out of the country a month later.

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and filmmaker who served as Newsweek magazine's Iran correspondent, was imprisoned at Evin for four months in 2009 and charged with spying before being released on $300,000 bail.

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian American scholar, was arrested in 2007 while visiting her elderly mother and held at Evin for more than three months on charges of espionage and endangering national security. She was released on $333,000 bond.

After months of harsh treatment, including solitary confinement, that took a heavy toll on Rezaian's physical and mental health, Iranian prison authorities allowed him to get outside medical treatment for chronic eye infections and painful groin inflammation, his brother, Ali, said in February.

Rezaian was also allowed several visits from his wife, who brought him care packages, and was placed in a cell with another prisoner, the brother said.

Then, more than seven months into his incarceration, Rezaian was granted permission to hire an attorney, his family announced March 1. But the Revolutionary Court rejected the lawyer chosen by his family, Masoud Shafiei, who had represented the three American hikers.

The Rezaian family then hired Ahsan, an Iranian attorney who also represented Rezaian's wife.

Ahsan disclosed in April that an indictment she was allowed to read charged Rezaian with espionage and three other serious crimes, including "collaborating with hostile governments" and "propaganda against the establishment." Rezaian was also accused of gathering information "about internal and foreign policy" and providing it to "individuals with hostile intent." As an example of his alleged contact with a "hostile government," the indictment said he wrote to Obama.

The trial proceedings indicated that some of the claims against Rezaian stemmed from a visit he made to a U.S. consulate regarding a visa for his wife and a letter he wrote seeking a job in the Obama administration in 2008 - material that was apparently taken from his confiscated laptop.

Baron said on April 26 that Iran had produced "no evidence" that Rezaian "engaged in espionage or did anything other than report on what was happening in that country." Appearing on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program, The Post's executive editor added, "In fact, most of his coverage focused on the culture and daily life of people in Iran."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said three days later that Rezaian may have been asked to gather information by someone working for the U.S. government. Speaking at a New York University forum, Zarif said a "low-level operative" may have tried to "take advantage" of Rezaian. He suggested that the reporter was vulnerable in seeking a U.S. visa for his wife.

To press for Rezaian's release, the family launched an online petition that drew support from hundreds of thousands in more than 140 countries. The family also published an open letter to Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, the chief of the Iranian judiciary, complaining of "the ongoing disregard for the legal protections" that Iran's constitution guarantees its citizens.

Born in Marin County, Calif., to an Iranian emigre father and an American mother, Rezaian moved to Iran in 2008 and worked as a journalist for publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle. He joined The Post in 2012 and wrote stories that he hoped would give readers a deeper and more nuanced view of Iran; one of the last before his arrest recounted the travails of the country's fledgling baseball team.

Iran does not recognize dual nationality, and it barred any U.S. role in the case, including consular visits by diplomats representing U.S. interests. Diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran were severed in 1980 during the Iranian hostage crisis.

Rezaian's case came up repeatedly in talks in Switzerland between U.S. and Iranian negotiators over Tehran's nuclear program. The U.S. side pressed for the release of the jailed journalist, as well as the two other imprisoned Americans, and asked for information on an American who has been missing since he visited Iran's Kish Island in 2007.

American boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who is popular in the Muslim world, weighed in on Rezaian's behalf in March, urging Iranian authorities to free him.

But as Rezaian's imprisonment continued, it became increasingly apparent that his case was caught up in internal rivalries in Iran between hard-liners implacably hostile to the United States and relative moderates supporting Rouhani, who was elected in 2013.

With hard-liners under Khamenei, the country's ultimate religious and political authority, firmly in control of key levers of power, the case served to underscore the relative impotence of the Rouhani government in judicial and national security matters.

Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack carried out by two terrorists in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday.

One terrorist was neutralized and another suspect was arrested after attempting to flee the scene.

MDA paramedics said that two people were wounded in the attack, a 20-year-old and a 16-year-old, both in serious condition. Both victims were transported to Hadassah University Medical Center in the capital's Mount Scopus neighborhood.

The incident was the third terror attack of the day in Jerusalem.

On Monday morning, a Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed near Lion's Gate, in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, after attempting to stab a Border Police officer.

According to police, at approximately 9 a.m., the assailant, whom police deemed suspicious, was asked to stop for inspection. The suspect then withdrew a knife from his pocket and charged one of the officers, stabbing him in his metal breastplate.

Police immediately opened fire, killing the man, later identified as 18-year-old Mustafa Hatib, of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.

Hours later, an Arab woman was shot after stabbing a Border Police officer near the capital's police headquarters.

According to Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, the attack took place at approximately 2:15 p.m., near the Ammunition Hill light rail stop, when the unidentified suspect stabbed the officer on a sidewalk.

"Officers on the scene shot the woman immediately and cordoned off the area," Rosenfeld said minutes after the attack. "The officer was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and rushed to an area hospital in light-to-moderate condition."

Rosenfeld said the suspect was seriously injured and has also been hospitalized, adding that police have cordoned off the scene.

"Police are investigating the attack and continue to maintain a high level of security throughout the capital," he said.

The bicycle a 13 year old boy was riding before he was stabbed in Jerusalem on Oct. 12, 2015.

A Palestinian man on an Egged bus stabbed an IDF soldier while attempting to steal the soldier's gun on Monday night in Jerusalem, according to police.

Security forces shot dead the suspected terrorist. The soldier was taken to a hospital in light-to-moderate condition.

According to police, when the attacker failed to snatch the soldier's weapon, he then tried to choke the soldier, took out a knife and stabbed him.

While the bus was stopped near the capital's International Convention Center, a citizen struggled with the suspected terrorist. Police that were on the scene nearby entered the bus.

A police officer then struggled with the suspected terrorist, who managed to apprehend his gun.

Afterward, additional police forces arrived to the scene, saw the terrorist with the pistol, and shot him dead.

Following the attack shortly after 9 p.m., the entrance to the city was closed by police.

The latest attack served as the fourth in the span of 12 hours on Monday, bringing Jerusalem to its highest state of alert in years.

Meanwhile, a 13-year-old Jewish boy remained in critical condition after being stabbed nearly a dozen times by two teenage Palestinian terrorists during the third attack at approximately 3 p.m., in Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood According to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the two Palestinian suspects who carried out the attack are cousins, aged 13 and 15, and live in east Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood. Neither youth has prior records of security-related incidents, the Shin Bet said.

"Both terrorists attacked the boy while he was riding his bicycle, and stabbed him many times all over his body before a driver neutralized the 13-year-old terrorist by ramming his car into him," Rosenfeld said.

"The other assailant then stabbed a 24-year-old Jewish man nearby before being shot dead by police."

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene moments later, and rushed the boy and second victim, who was in serious condition, to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem as police cordoned-off the area, Rosenfeld said.

The 13-year-old Arab assailant was also transferred to an area hospital in serious condition, he said.

Less than an hour earlier, a Palestinian woman was shot after stabbing a Border Police officer near the capital's police headquarters. Rosenfeld said that attack took place at approximately 2:15 p.m., near the Ammunition Hill light rail stop, when the unidentified suspect stabbed the officer on a sidewalk.

"Officers on the scene shot the woman immediately and cordoned off the area," he said. "The officer was treated by Magen David Adom paramedics and rushed to an area hospital in light-to-moderate condition."

Rosenfeld said the suspect was seriously injured and has also been hospitalized.

During the day's first attack around 9 a.m., a Palestinian terrorist was shot and killed near Lion's Gate, in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, after attempting to stab a Border Police officer.

The assailant, whom police deemed suspicious, was asked to stop for a spot inspection before pulling a knife from his pocket and charging one of the officers, stabbing him in his metal breastplate, Rosenfeld said.

Police immediately opened fire, killing the man, later identified as 18-year-old Mustafa Hatib, from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber.

Amid the capital's ongoing wave of violence, acting police Police Chief Bentzi Sau on Sunday ordered 1,000 extra highly-trained Border Police officers to be dispatched to the Old City and flashpoint Arab neighborhoods to assist the 3,500 officers presently on the ground.

Stabbing attacks against Jews have become so common that Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat last Thursday encouraged citizens with gun permits to remain armed when walking the city streets.

In a statement following Monday's third attack, Barkat condemned the depravity of the terrorists.

"To our shock and horror, the cruelty of murderers who attack innocent civilians and children on their way home from school knows no limit, confronting us all with a shocking form of evil," he said.

"This cruel and merciless terrorism is the result of incitement and inflammatory lies. We must act swiftly and decisively both against the terrorists, as well as against those who are spreading this incitement."

Barkat added that he has beseeched Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately take more aggressive action. "I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to implement more severe means and to take strong action against those who are inciting terrorism with their inflammatory statements and messages," he said.

"I would like to commend and thank the security forces, security guards and dedicated citizens who took swift action in all of the recent events, bravely neutralizing terrorists and stopping killing sprees." The mayor went on to call on residents to unite and remain strong in the face of the ongoing terrorism.

"I ask the public to act in a vigilant and responsible manner, and most of all to demonstrate unity, strength and determination in this war against lone-wolf terrorists," he said.

"I wish our wounded a speedy recovery. We will continue with our routine in this current situation, with maximal vigilance, and while continuing our fight against terror with unwavering determination." Meanwhile, the West Bank saw a drop in the number of clashes between Palestinians and the IDF on Monday.

The biggest clash occurred near Kikar Ayosh between Ramallah and Bet El, where hundreds of rioters threw rocks and rolled burning tires at soldiers, who responded with crowd control measures.

In Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem, a Border Policeman shot and struck a Palestinian rioter who was hurling a firebomb at security forces.

Several minor clashes involving tens of rioters occurred in the northern West Bank, and in the regions of Etzion, Ephraim, and Binyamin.

In terms of Jerusalem, Rosenfeld said police remain vigilant.

"Police continue to step up security and will continue to prevent or neutralize terrorists who carry out attacks," he said.

A new Iranian precision-guided ballistic missile is launched at an undisclosed location on October 11, 2015 (Reuters/FarsNews.com)

"Iran tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile on Sunday in defiance of a United Nations ban, signaling an apparent advance in Iranian attempts to improve the accuracy of its missile arsenal.

The Islamic Republic has one of the largest missile programs in the Middle East, but its potential effectiveness has been limited by poor accuracy.

State television showed what appeared to be a successful launch of the new missile, named Emad, which will be Iran's first precision-guided weapon with the range to strike its regional arch-enemy Israel.

'The Emad missile is able to strike targets with a high level of precision and completely destroy them ... This greatly increases Iran's strategic deterrence capability,' Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan said at a televised news conference.

The U.N. Security Council prohibits foreign powers from assisting Iran in developing its ballistic missile program in any way, a ban that will remain in place under the terms of the July 14 nuclear deal that will see other sanctions lifted.

The United Nations also prohibits Iran from undertaking any activity related to ballistic missiles that could deliver a nuclear warhead, which applies to the Emad, but Iranian officials have pledged to ignore the ban.